Tear of the Dragon

Disclaimer: I don't own Kung Fu Panda. I am ashamed. But I do own Jing-Mai.

Warning: Yaoi (MxM), and references to Mpreg.

1. Anniversary (Part I)

Dear Mama and Baba,

I'm really sorry I couldn't be there with you on your anniversary; what with the Council asking me to assist them on such short notice, I felt it was only a matter of goodness and honour to accept.

Because of this unfortunate timing, I decided I would do something special for you both. Enclosed in this letter are 2 tickets for the Valley's annual Tear of the Dragon festival (you'll find them taped to the back). I know that neither of you are particularly sociable people, but I think that both of you will have a wonderful time, and, who knows; maybe they'll be a surprise there for you?

Anyway, I made both of you some dinner (Well, attempted to. Sorry if it's a bit burnt/undercooked; or just completely revolting. I won't be offended if you don't eat it.) I'm not going to tell you what I've prepared...both of you can find out, later. You'll have to put it in the oven though. You'll find it in the fridge. There are also some things in the bottom left hand cupboard. I'm sorry it's not much, but i hope you like it...

This letter is written a bit more formally than I would have liked, but it might be intercepted by bandits (henceforth why I've asked Z to bring it to you; to make sure that it will get there to the right people). They're too stupid to know what the 'Council' is. And, if you're a bandit reading this, I am not afraid to insult you; you're reading my letter. However, if you are the intended recipients, yes, I know I should never underestimate the enemy, but I'm being honest here.

I hope both of you have a wonderful anniversary.

I love you,

Jai xxx

Jing-Mai finished the letter with a flourish, placing the feather quill back into the bottle of black ink sitting on her desk. Her hand ached a bit, and she thought, 'A tad longer than I originally intended, but oh well'.

She smiled as Zeng rapped politely on her bedroom door, seeing his plump figure behind the semi-transparent material.

"Come in," she called quietly.

Zeng slid open the door, lingering at the entrance. "Are you ready, Master Jing-Mai?"

"Your timing is perfect, Zeng. I've just finished, and the ink should almost be dry. But please, just call me Jing-Mai."

"B-but, it is against my-!" Zeng looked horrified.

"Okay, okay! You don't have to, if you don't want to; it was just a request," Jing-Mai chuckled, as she finished rolling the letter up into a scroll.

She passed the scroll to Zeng, and said lowly, "Please make sure only my parents receive this letter. You are to wait until morning, please don't lose it, and go down the back of the palace and fly around to the bottom of the steps, to make it seem as though you have come from the direction of the Sacred Onyx Council. Then, fly upwards until you are level with both the bottom of the steps and the doors to the palace, and just fly towards the palace courtyard, where my parents should be training their students. If not, they are in the Training Hall. Act exhausted. I am counting on you Zeng."

"Yes, Master Ling-Mai."

"Thank you." The two bowed to each other, and Zeng exited.

Jing-Mai sat back down on her chair and sighed, fixing her glasses, and looked around her room. It wasn't particularly full, and, as a girl of fourteen years, this was rather unusual.

Her bed was in the top right hand corner, (if you were looking at it from the door) with a faded blue, green, and red quilt folded over the end, and a small sheep doll was placed neatly at the top, leaning against the wall (a gift from Po). Her desk was placed vertically at the end of her bed, with paint brushes, rubbers, colours, pens, and pencils in a pencil case, and different coloured notebooks with torn out pages, that now inhabited the bin, sitting on it, alongside her bottles of ink. Across the room stood a bookcase, filled to the brim with fiction, scrolls, drawing folders, notebooks, and odd discarded papers. There was a red and black striped rug in the middle of the room, with a white rim. There was a small black bin immediately to the left of the door, overflowing with the aforementioned pages. A window, with black blinds, parallel to the door looked out at the Valley of Peace, which lived up to it's name in the night, and the stars winked at her through the window, as if they knew, and would keep, her secret. Action figures were lined up along the windowsill, including one of herself (other presents from Po). A few paintings and calligraphy pieces adorned the walls; all of which were made by Jing-Mai. She was quite a talented artist, and her parents had insisted that she put them up. Crane had taught her calligraphy. She never got the chance to take them down. Her wooden wardrobe and chest of drawers were beside the window.

Her ear twitched as she heard approaching footsteps, and soon enough, a minute or two later, Monkey appeared at her door, which had been left ajar. His grin widened.

"You ready, JM?"

"Yep." Jing-Mai hopped out of her seat and was at Monkey's side in a second, grabbing a bobble for her hair from her top drawer on the way past. She slid her door closed and followed him down the seemingly endless stairs to Mr Ping's noodle shop.

Operation 'Anniversary' was underway.

The next morning, just as golden light was spilling over the hills and unto the Valley, the morning gong echoed throughout the Jade Palace.

"Good morning Masters," eleven voices chimed in unison. Even Po had managed to get up.

"Good morning Students," Master Shifu and Master Junjie replied together.

"This morning, we will be training outside in the courtyard-" Master Junjie began, ajusting his glasses.

"-And we expect the highest standard of discipline and skill to be demonstrated as usual." Master Shifu's voice was strict, and it was clear to both Furious Fives and the Dragon Warrior that if they disobeyed this order; things were NOT going to be pretty.

"Yes Master Junjie. Yes Master Shifu."

The masters nodded in approval of their pupils' diciplined behaviour. It was strange for them not to see their fourteen-year-old daughter standing alongside the others, with her hands held firmly behind her back as they had.

"Oh, and, Masters-" Tigress turned on her heel.

"-before we forget..." Ming said over her shoulder.

"Happy Anniversary!" All of the students were perfectly syncronised; as though they had been practising; which maybe they had. Po's voice was unquestionably the loudest.

The couple stood, stunned for a moment, looked at each other, before replying, "Thank you..."

The students raced on ahead, before their masters could say anything else.

"Well, that was...as you put it...a tad unusual...But it was extremely nice of them, all the same."

"Or, as Jai would put it; 'awkward'." Junjie laughed at his husband.

"Yes, she probably would say that," he responded. "Teenagers these days...Wow. THAT's scary..."

"What is?"

"...That our baby is a teenager."

"..."

"That IS frightening. Pretty soon; we'll have to beat all the boys that are after her into bloody pulps."

"...She will NEVER get a BOYFRIEND-"

"-if WE have anything to do with it."

The two sat and fumed about this dreaded subject for a minute.

"I still think it's still strange how they just accept all of this, our students, I mean. And how YOU somehow accept ME..."

"Junjie, 1) What does that have to do with anything? and 2) please don't tell me you're still upset about that? We've been over this. That was YEARS ago. Yesterday, is history; tomorrow, is a mystery; But today, is-"

"A gift. That is why it is called the Present."

Shifu chuckled. "How is it that I've said that so many times that you can actually finish for me?"

"You blabber on a lot, dear Shifu." Junjie patted him on the shoulder solemnly.

Shifu smirked. "Well, your laugh is peculiar."

"I know. Only my evil one though." They laughed. It was just like old times; when they were with Fenghuang and Chao. Shifu said this.

"Speaking of Chao...I wonder why he asked Jai to go down to the Council. It's a lot of balderdash if you ask me. I would know; I used to be a part of that stupid organisation. And he KNOWS what day it is... Maybe he's still angry at me; even though he found out the real reason I locked you down in the dungeon and tried to take over the Jade Palace multiple times...Anyhow, it had better be something pretty damn important is all I can say."

"It is rather bizarre. But then again; you can never really tell with Chao; he always was a mysterious character," Shifu pondered.

"True. I was going to refuse to let her go. She's too YOUNG Shifu! And it's certainly not what she wants."

"I know that. How do you think I feel? One grows attached to a cub after carrying her around for 9 months. Especially when one's body is not made for doing so."

"One would. And I thank you immensely for it." Junjie gently linked their tails, and the reddish glow of Shifu's cheeks showed through his white fur. Junjie shook his head, smiling.

"Come on then."

The two masters followed the path their students had taken a couple of moments before, towards the courtyard.

They were in for a surprise.

"And then simply-" Shifu's voice was interrupted by Zeng; who was flying towards the assembly of kung fu masters at terrific speed, yelling "Master Shifu, Master Junjie!" repetitively.

"Zeng?-"

"What are you doing here?!-"

"You were supposed to be minding Jing-Mai!" Zeng wished a cloud would open to swallow him up. Even from where he was, he could sense that the two masters were NOT particularly pleased to see him.

He landed in front of them, and shrivelled under their harsh gazes.

"Zeng?" Master Shifu's voice was sharp enough to cut him into a thousand pieces.

"I bring a message for you-from Master Jing-Mai!" Zeng panted.

The letter was in Junjie's paws before the goose could even blink. Shifu was beside Junjie within a couple of milliseconds, and they looked at each other.

"Is she alright? What happened?"

"Master Jing-Mai is fine, but she said for you to read the letter as soon as you got it. She said it was important..." Zeng recited, anxiously glancing between the parents.

"Students! Please go and work by yourselves for a couple of minutes. We won't be long..." Junjie ordered, and the pupils stood still for a second, before bowing and turning away to work on their training.

The masters hurried off to the Hall of Warriors, and Shifu called to Zeng; "Wait there! We'll be back soon!"

Zeng didn't know how long 'soon' was, but he sighed and reluctantly walked towards where the students were assembled to watch them train.

"Oh gods, do you think Jai's okay? What if something happened to her? What if Chao hurt her?!"

"Junjie, you're being illogical. Chao is a honourable man; he would do no such thing. And Zeng said she was fine. Besides, if she WAS in trouble, I seriously doubt she would have time to sit down and write a letter."

"...I suppose you're right. As always." Junjie sighed, then looked down to the letter in his grasp. "But I don't know what I would do if something happened to her..." Junjie kept his head bowed, ears flattening.

Shifu put his hand on the fox's shoulder, and smiled sympathetically.

"Me neither," he admitted, tilting Junjie's head up. "I think we'd both be lost."

There was a short silence, and he coughed awkwardly."I think we should open the letter now..."

"Oh, uh, yes." Junjie unrolled the scroll, and smiled at the first couple of lines along with Shifu.

"Did she seriously just write to us to wish us a happy anniversary? Wow. We must really stress her out with our worrying," Junjie's voice was playful, but was laced with a hint of relief. Shifu knew exactly how he felt.

Dispite his comforting gestures and reassuring words, the red panda couldn't help but be worried about his young daughter. It was just an animal, and parental, instinct, was his conclusion. Most parents loved their children very much, and would be heartbroken if something happened to them; especially if it was a preventable situation in which the parent could have done something to save their daughter/son.

Shifu felt a brief stab at his heart as Tai Lung sprung into his mind, and the guilt bubbled in his stomach for a second. How he wished he could change things...

He shook his head lightly, clearing his thoughts of his adopted son, and proceeded to read the rest of the letter. Junjie was chuckling at the last few lines by the time Shifu started the second paragraph. As he read her ending, he smiled.

"Even Jai knows we worry too much. She's right though; in saying that she should never underestimate the enemy."

"Just how many times have you drilled that into her head?"

Shifu muttered an incoherent number under his breath, and Junjie rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"I'd like to see a bandit try and stand up to our Jing-Mai. They'd be rolling on the ground within a second, clutching their shattered ribs and broken nose," Junjie said, smiling at the thought.

"It really would be quite amusing for us to watch." The fox laughed at the red panda's remark.

"That it would. Though-"

"-if they even tried"

"-to touch our daughter-"

"-they be better off throwing themselves off of a cliff-"

"-than dealing with us." The two nodded in satisfaction at their statement.

"So...what do you think she's made us?" Junjie started, looking down to the letter again.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. It was lovely of her to do something though."

"I know...But...Why does she always try so hard for us?"

Shifu inhaled sharply. "I...That's...just the kind of person she is, I guess." Junjie smiled proudly. Shifu couldn't bring himself to say the 'p word'.

"But...when do you think she made it?" Silence followed Shifu's question.

"I don't know. Maybe when we were asleep? Or out training?" Junjie pondered uncertainly.

"...Maybe."

"Sometimes I wonder if the child works herself too hard..."

"It's called discipline."

"Think about it. When was the last time she actually had a day off training?"

"..."

"Exactly my point. Jing-Mai's still young Shifu...Do you want to be the one that holds her back from doing the things that she wants while she still can? She needs to have a kid's life, you know: go out shopping in the village; play outside in the rain; dance around her bedroom with her music on; cheer Po on when he participates in his eating challenges...whatever children do these days. She could even work on her paintings. Are we too over-protective? I don't think so, but she might..."

"No! Some 'things' could put her in dangers path!"

"I wasn't suggesting anything that could!"

"She needs to focus on her training."

"The child spends her entire life training! She needs a break!"

"She is OUR daughter after all. What did you expect?"

Junjie sighed and shook his head, studying Shifu over the top of his glasses.

"I expected you to understand!"

"I just...don't want her to be another Tai-Lung." Junjie stood in a stunned silence, staring at Shifu in disbelief.

"She's not going to be. Do you really think I would let that happen?" he asked coldly.

"Why, do you think I would?" Shifu growled. "I'm not going to make the same mistake as I did before. I...love her too much."

"You loved him too," Junjie snapped. "Look where that got you." The fox swiftly blocked Shifu's foot from colliding with his chest.

"Are you saying that I shouldn't love my own daughter?!"

"Of course not! I'm saying that you need to let her have a life!" Shifu skidded across the floor.

"I'm trying to protect her!"

"What do you think I'M trying to do?!" Junjie snarled as he landed beside the Moon Pool with an echoing thud.

"How is that protecting her? Are you trying to get her in serious trouble?!"

"Don't you DARE even accuse me of such a thing! I...love her more than anything," Junjie landed lightly on the floor, and looked at Shifu with his ears slightly dipped. "Except maybe you. I love the both of you exactly the same amount. You and Lily mean the world to me." He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

Shifu approached him, before cautiously wrapping his arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug.

"I love you too. Both of you. So much." The red panda nuzzled under Junjie's chin when he felt the fox hug him back fiercely.

"Oh gods, listen to us. We've gone all soft!" Shifu groaned, and he felt Junjie shake a little as he chuckled softly.

"Who cares? And...I'm sorry, by the way. I went too far...I hope you can forgive me..." Junjie smirked as he traced Shifu's ear.

"I already have. And I'm sorry too. What about you? Can you forgive me?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

A/N I love this pairing! ...I really don't know what I'm supposed to say. Except from; Sorry if the characters were really OOC.

I guess I just kind of imagined them both as those kind of parents. Over-protective. I think it's cute when dads do that ;D And I've always thought that if Shifu and Junjie stayed in the same room together for a while, they would have to keep changing the topic of conversation, in case it became too awkward. Plus they would have a lot of arguments. Quick ones, but arguments nevertheless.

Anyway...R&R and F&F please...I appreciate the support.

~scratchedheart